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Hill to visit Indonesia
The Australian Federal Defence Minister Robert Hill is due to visit Indonesia next week in a sign of strengthening ties between the two countries in the wake of deadly extremist bomb attacks, according to state media. The state Antara news agency said Senator Hill's visit was agreed to by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Foreign Affairs Minister Alexander Downer during a religious summit held in the Indonesian city of Yogyakarta. Canberra stepped up security links with Jakarta in the wake of the October 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people, including 88 Australians, were killed. Australian police specialists played a key role in the investigations. The cooperation was extended in September this year when militants detonated a bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta, killing nine people. Both attacks have been blamed on the Jemaah Islamiah regional terror network said to have links to Al Qaeda. Mr Yudhoyono, who was installed as president in October, has promised to get tough on Islamic extremists in the world's largest Muslim-populated country, a stance welcomed by the Federal Government which views him as an ally. Posted by: God Save The World 2004-12-06 |
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